Weekend Box Office Report: Tenet keeps trying to attract eyes!

Moviegoers make time for Tenet!

Filmmaker Christopher Nolan's globetrotting thriller TENET remained the only major offering for audiences seeking an escape to theaters (or drive-ins), topping a second weekend with an estimated $6.7 million.

Warner Bros. is being cagey about financial information and hasn't been releasing traditional daily box office figures — it seems that last weekend's $20.2 million domestic total included its previous week only in Canadian theaters, and the actual three-day opening weekend in North America was closer to $9.5 million.

This means that technically, TENET's second domestic weekend only dropped by 29% since it premiered on US screens. The PG-13 sci-fi espionage tale (originally planned for July 17) is now on 2900 screens in North America, and has a domestic total of $29.5 million.

Nolan's $200 million time-tampering tech epic is receiving a stronger response overseas, giving the high-profile release a worldwide total of $207 million (which includes $23 million from IMAX showings).

Given the ongoing COVID-19 restrictions for theaters (and life in general), TENET's performance may not have been the anticipated confidence boost after all — Warner Bros. has moved superhero sequel WONDER WOMAN 1984 from October 2nd to a new Christmas Day release. Since that's only a week after the studio's expensive space saga DUNE is set to land on screens, we can probably expect one of those to shift.

The Disney-released Fox acquisition THE NEW MUTANTS was again in second place with $2.1 million on its third weekend in theaters after its painfully long delay before release.

Director Josh Boone's horror-themed X-MEN spinoff has a domestic total of $15.3 million and close to $30 million worldwide (on a cost rumored to be as high as $80 million).

The R-rated Russell Crowe thriller UNHINGED was in third place with $1.5 million on its fifth weekend in release. The $33 million road rage movie has a domestic total of $13.8 million and $22 million worldwide.

Sony released their PG-13 romance THE BROKEN HEARTS GALLERY onto 2200 screens this weekend and opened with an estimated $1.12 million.

Set in New York (ironically, where cinemas are currently still closed), the comedy-drama starring Geraldine Viswanathan (BLOCKERS) and Dacre Montgomery (of Netflix's "Stranger Things") cost a reported $8 million.

Teen romantic drama AFTER WE COLLIDED was released on nearly 300 screens in Canada over the weekend and generated $525,000. Adapted from Anna Todd's young-adult novel, the sequel to last year's AFTER also has a fairly impressive worldwide total of $21 million. The movie is set for a simultanteous theatrical/VOD release in the US on October 23.

The remainder of the available cinema/drive-in options included PG-13 sequel BILL & TED FACE THE MUSIC with another $265,000 for a domestic total of $2.78 million while it keeps rocking the VOD charts. The PG-13 teen drama WORDS ON BATHROOM WALLS is now at nearly $2 million in total, and the Dickens adaptation THE PERSONAL LIFE OF DAVID COPPERFIELD has collected $1.4 million over three weeks.

Disney's period adventure of MULAN appeared to have strong results from its $29.99 release onto the studio's Disney+ streaming platform, which saw a download spike of 68% for the app after the live-action remake became available for Premier Access on September 4 (the movie can be viewed at no extra cost to regular subscribers on December 4). 

However, the PG-13 update of the legendary story didn't make much of an impression upon release in China, where the $200 million release posted $23.2 million over its first weekend. 

As for the future of major releases, CANDYMAN has also bounced from its planned October 16 date to some time in 2021. At the moment, DEATH ON THE NILE (October 23), BLACK WIDOW (November 6) and NO TIME TO DIE (November 20) are still holding firm. For now…

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